Australian Anglicans have made a doctrinal pronouncement to the effect that having children is tantamount to breaking the eighth commandment (or the seventh, if you are Catholic or Lutheran): Anglicans argue for fewer kids. According to this report in The Sydney Morning Herald,
The Anglican Church wants Australians to have fewer children and has urged the federal government to scrap the baby bonus and cut immigration levels. The General Synod of the Anglican Church has issued a warning that current rates of population growth are unsustainable and potentially out of step with church doctrine – including the eighth commandment “thou shall not steal”, Fairfax newspapers say. In a significant intervention, the Anglican Public Affairs Commission has also warned concerned Christians that remaining silent “is little different from supporting further overpopulation and ecological degradation”.
Although the strongly evangelical and reformed Sydney Diocese links to this story from its website, it gives no hint as to whether or not it agrees.
May 9th, 2010 | 4:32 pm | #1
I’m Anglican. This is disgusting. This is why I will probably end up Orthodox.
May 9th, 2010 | 4:34 pm | #2
Perhaps they would be better off arguing for denser patterns of urban design – something that both Australia and the U.S. have to get far better at for reasons of sustainability. Should multi-family housing structures become the norm, the lack of lawns would also aid in dealing with the water issue. As for use of Scripture, they would be better with “seek the welfare of the city” and the image of the New Jerusalem.
May 9th, 2010 | 7:00 pm | #3
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nathan W. Bingham. Nathan W. Bingham said: Reading: Anglicans bent on smaller Australia http://j.mp/8Y3Y2t [...]
May 9th, 2010 | 7:19 pm | #4
Here we go again. Trust in man and not God.
May 9th, 2010 | 8:01 pm | #5
Wasn’t it an Anglican minister a few months back who caused a minor stir by encouraging his congregation to steal?
So stealing is okay, but having children is stealing in a bad way?
And in our local paper today a story appeared about the Anglican “pet services.” Is the C of E out to win some sort of British “Loony Award”?
May 9th, 2010 | 10:17 pm | #6
Craig: Does Britain have a Loony Award? I was under the impression that only we Americans had that. And by the way, I am the reigning champion. If I knew I had competition across the pond, however…
May 10th, 2010 | 12:01 am | #7
I am one of those freeloading children of immigrants with American citizenship thanks to my birth, but Australian citizenship thanks to my parentage. Given the current state of U.S. economic affairs (specifically, the Californian state, as that’s where I live), I was strongly considering dusting off my passport to Oz and getting us back there. But we have three kids, so we’re probably well over the limit. Oh well. Australians tend to be most biased against American evangelicals anyway, so it was going to be a long shot regardless…
May 10th, 2010 | 8:01 am | #8
[...] Evangel) Comments [...]
May 11th, 2010 | 8:45 pm | #9
Oops. Sorry, Brit friends. I looked it up, and the Anglican pet services are here, in Massachusetts.
So, Gary Simmons, it looks like you may have some home-grown competition for that award.
May 12th, 2010 | 11:56 am | #10
The Westernized Christians are promoting a smaller birthrate, and the Muslims in the West are having children like crazy. Where does that leave us in another 50-75 years?
May 12th, 2010 | 7:34 pm | #11
“Where does that leave us in another 50-75 years?”
If you have faith in Jesus Christ, then you know where it leaves us – there is nothing that Man can do to prevent the triumph of Jesus.
May 12th, 2010 | 8:50 pm | #12
I agree with R. Hampton. I don’t think scaremongering over the muslim birthrate is at all productive. The gospel of Jesus Christ has a power that the Qur’an could never have. The church should take the presence of Muslims in their countries as an opportunity to share the good news of the Saviour. And, of course, we should continue to have children of our own.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact